Album Notes

One of the oldest and most prestigious African American churches in the Greater Cincinnati Area, Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church has, over 63 years, set a high standard of excellence in ministry. Under the direction of the late Grammy-winning composer and director, Dr. Charles Fold, Lincoln Heights blazed a trail in the ministry of music that successive generations have followed.

"In This Temple" is a tribute honoring the late gospel legend because recording his church choir was Fold’s dream. Dr. Charles Fold played a significant role in the explosion of the traditional Gospel choir sound beginning in the 1970’s, together with Rev. James Cleveland. Cleveland with his unparalleled gift for capturing the attention of the masses with his songs and riveting delivery, and Fold, able to deliver those songs in powerful style with his Charles Fold Singers, are the ones who turned “Jesus Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me” and “Lord, Let Me Be An Instrument” among others, into smash hits. This began a set of nine LPs in which Fold and Cleveland collaborated, with the highlight, from an awards standpoint; being a Grammy Award from the 1979, Lord, Let Me Be An Instrument LP. Fold also garnered an additional four Grammy nominations in the course of his musical ministry.

In 2009, Lincoln Heights released their debut album, the live concert recording In This Temple, Written and produced by the anointed songwriter and pianist Minister Darryl Cherry, A devotee of the late Maestro, Minister Thomas A. Whitfield, Cherry fuses Gospel and jazz styles with classical baroque phrasing to create a sound uniquely his own. The former director of New York’s prestigious Columbia University’s Gospel choir currently serves as minister of music at Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church.